New Year’s non-Resolutions

New Year’s Resolutions seldom last.

Nor do many people succeed in changing those things they commit to changing. Maybe it was changing how you react to a loved one; following medical or sports advice you actually agreed with; or behaving in ways that would be more effective as you lead your organisation. And yet, somehow, you dropped back into doing what you’d always done.

We see exactly the same, writ large across the planet. Nations seldom manage to actually do what they know needs to be done to address our global challenges.

So why is it so difficult, after committing to do something differently to the way you’ve always done it, to actually change?

It’s not more information. You already have more than enough information to be convinced.

It’s not emotional persuasion. You already feel strongly enough about changing to be motivated. So more “helpful thoughts” from yourself and those around you, whilst increasing your feelings of guilt or anger or whatever, won’t help.

Increasing the forces pushing you towards a new behaviour often fails to achieve anything except leave you feeling even guilt and stress.

Because the forces keeping you where you are also push back harder the more you push against them. For a good reason; they are also doing their best to meet other equally valid needs that you also have.

The patterns in Dojo4Life give you a way forwards. Not by making you stronger at fighting yourself, but by generating new ways of acting in harmony with yourself. You generate harmony by getting clear sight of both sides of you, the opposing commitments you have. Do this in the Dojo by:

Uncovering which of your natural tendencies is dysfunctional in this context.

Using more thought patterns to see through the veils, to see more of what your world really is and has.

And finally by going beyond one-sided “either me / or me too” into generating harmony with all parts.

Come along to the next Dojo4Life to begin strengthening your ability to never be defeated in changing what ought to be changed. Never defeated, because you find ways where change never becomes a battle in the first place. Just as in Aikido!